Greek bail-out

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Dutch finance minister and Eurogroup president, on Monday (27 January) expressed regret that negotiations had not progressed further with Greece on the economic reforms the Greek government should take to meet the terms of its €240 billion bail-out. “Further work is needed” by Greece before lenders would return to the country to assess progress, he said. His comments were echoed by Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, and Michael Spindelegger, Austria’s finance minister.